cutting coil springs

i wanna take i or 2 coils out of my front springs to drop her i put new coils in and it sits to high also put new leafs in rear this is on a 62 galaxie.Whats the best tool to use? cutoff wheel or sawzall ive got plenty of air power. thanks mike

 

A sawzall won't even touch your new springs. A cut off wheel works pretty good. I always just use a hard wheel on an angle grinder.

Here's a trick, if you get under and measuer from one coil to the next while the car is on the ground it will give you an approximate of how much drop you'll get from removeing one coil.

 

sawzall will be a bit more h***le, but easier to fit in there if you plan to cut the springs while they are still on the car. if you wanna take them off the car first, a wheel will be a lot faster and easier.

i cut mine on the car with a plasma cutter.
do not try that at home...



tred.

 

I use the chopsaw. as mentioned, a sawzall just won't do anything to spring steel.

Also, it's a good idea to sneak up on the length you want. try cutting one coil, and see how far it drops, then perhaps cut a quarter or half a coil at a time from there till you get it right. it's easy to go too low (yeah, some of us actually think there is such a thing as too low)

 

Isn't that when a ****roach splatters on the windshield?

 

4 inch disk grinder on edge works pretty good. ive tried sawsall-ing it, doesnt even put a dent in it, and it just burns up yer blade.(hey i was out of town at my buddys and didnt have a grinder we actually had to go buy one)

 

just a rule of thumb, 1 coil = 2", so dont cut too many off, or you'll be sitting on your frame.

 

pull the spring out and use a cut off wheel, angle grinder, or a chop saw. the reason the sawzall won't work is because the spring has been heated to a certain temp already. this takes the stress out of it and makes it not a plyable. spring steel is not used for making springs. usually it is a music, alloy coated music, or stainless steel wire. just really big wire.

 

try a "TORCH" sawsall blade or one of the rebar cutting blades if you do not want to remove spring, take weight off suspension and use spring compressor, cut below spring compressor hooks, I ususally end up with 1.5 to 2 coils whacked off.

 

WHEN YOU SAY "TAKE THE WEIGHT OFF SUSPENSION" DO YUO MEAN JACK UP SUSPENSION UNDER THE LOWER CONTROL ARMS, MIKE

 

me and a friend had a guy i know use his plasma cutter, took about 1.5 seconds each!

 

From your post I see that you don't know how a spring is made or how it is heat treated. Best to check the process before posting.

Frank

 

I would recommend a cutting torch, but if you dont have one I guess the grinder could work,but you will want to bend the tip back down and you need heat for that


those sawzall "torch" blade might work with like a 6 amp or higher tool

 

yes.

 

i just take them out and messure from the ground to find the spot that will give me the desired drop, mark it then whip out the oxy fuel torch

 

funny because that is what i do for a living is make springs.

 

if you cut the coils how bad does it usually effect the ride and handling of the car?

 

I cut 1 coil out of the front of mine with a torch.
In my case if you took 1/2 coil or 1 1/2 coil the
end of the spring wouldn't line up properly in the
spring pocket where it has a spot for the end of the
coil.
Like hotrod29 said, it gave me right at a 2" drop.
Didn't affect the ride quality at all.
Be sure to re-align your frontend after the drop.